1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an aerosol collector, and more particularly, an aerosol collecting device capable of collecting aerosol particles floating in the air.
2. Background of the Disclosure
In the field of a biological warfare and a biological terror, an attack method for damaging the human body by infection through a respiratory organ is mainly used. To this end, an attacker sprays biological agents or harmful materials in the air in the form of aerosol. In order to effectively react to such attack, the harmful materials should be early detected and components of the harmful materials should be identified.
Recently, a method for detecting and identifying biological harmful materials using MALDI-TOF (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionization Time-Of-Flight) mass spectrometer have been spotlighted. Unlike other mass spectrometers, the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer can perform a mass analysis in a wide band (several kD˜several hundred kD). Therefore, the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer can easily analyze a mass of biological particles, a type of a polymer compound. Further, it takes a much shorter time (less than 1 second) for the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer to analyze a sample than other mass spectrometers. Therefore, the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer can serve to early determine harmful materials.
A sample analysis method by the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer is as follows.
Firstly, a sample to be analyzed is mixed with a matrix, and then is ionized using energy of a pulse laser. Then, the ionized sample is accelerated in a strong electric field, so that a Time-Of-Flight of the sample can be measured according to a mass. Then, a mass spectrum of the sample is formed based on the measured result. Once the formed mass spectrum is analyzed, components of the sample can be identified. Accordingly, whether a biological attack has occurred or not can be determined.
However, in case of determining whether a biological attack has occurred or not using such mass spectrometry, the following problems may be caused.
Firstly, the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry cannot collect samples real time on the battlefield, despite advantages that a wide range of masses can be analyzed, and a sample analysis can be performed more quickly than other mass spectrometry.
A sample to be detected using such mass spectrometry is aerosol type biological particles floating in the air. It is not easy to directly drop such aerosol type biological particles, on a sample plate of the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. In the conventional art, particles in the air was collected using an impinger. Then, the collected particles were separated from each other (concentrated) by a centrifugal process. Then, the concentrated sample is suspended using purified water. Then, the suspension was dropped onto a dropping spot of the sample plate using a pipette. Such processes are performed manually for 10 minutes or more.
In order to early detect a biological warfare and a biological terror on the battlefield, required is a technique capable of collecting aerosols flowing in the air, and then capable of directly absorbing samples onto the sample plate of the MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, without extracting the samples using the collected biological particles (bioaerosols).